The human Androgen Receptor Complex Associated Protein (ARCAP) gene was first isolated via a yeast two-hybrid assay using the androgen receptor ligand-binding domain as bait. The human ARCAP mRNA has an open reading frame of 2583 nucleotides that encodes 860 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 95 Kd. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,974,683 and 7,083,935, as well as NCBI accession No DQ768089. Analysis of the human ARCAP gene revealed that it includes 19 exons over 135 kb of genomic DNA at chromosome 1q23.2-q24.3 region.
Studies have shown that the human ARCAP gene is expressed in hepatoma cell lines but not in normal human liver cells. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,974,683 and 7,083,935.
The role of ARCAP in the development of hepatomas is not currently understood.
Hepatoma formation is a complex process. The need exists to develop animal models for investigating morphological and molecular lesions leading to the transition of normal liver tissue into liver tumors.